1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for preventing a half-fitted state, in which a male housing and a female housing are half-fitted to each other.
2. Related Art
In the case that when a female connector is connected to a male connector, such a connecting operation is finished in a state in which the connectors are half-fitted to each other, the connectors may be detached from each other after the operation. Thus, a half-fitting prevention member is provided in the connector to thereby prevent an occurrence of a half-fitted state. Consequently, reliable fitting of female and male connectors is achieved.
One such connector is proposed and described in JP-A-10-50408. As illustrated in FIG. 27, a connector 1 comprises a male connector 3, a female connector 5 into which the male connector 3 is fitted, and a half-fitting prevention member 7 for preventing an occurrence of a half-fitted state of the male connector 3 and the female connector 5.
The male connector 3 has an exclusive-use housing 11 that is formed in such a manner as to be integral with an outer wall of a male housing body 9 and that is disposed at an upper portion thereof. A flexible arm 13 for retaining a state, in which the male connector 3 is fitted into the female connector 5, is provided in the exclusive-use housing 11. The flexible arm 13 has a pressure release portion 15 provided on the top surface thereof and an engaging projection 17 provided on the bottom surface of a leading end portion thereof.
The female connector 5, to which the male connector 3 is fitted, has pressing portions 19 provided on the outer peripheral surface thereof in such a way as to protrude therefrom, and also has an engaging portion 21 to be engaged with the engaging projection 17 of the flexible arm 13 in a state in which the male connector 3 is fitted into the female connector 5. Further, the half-fitting prevention member for preventing an occurrence of a half-fitted state, in which the male connector 3 is half-fitted to the female connector 5, is incorporated into the male connector 3.
The half-fitting prevention member 7 is constituted by an elastic member 23, which is held in the exclusive-use housing 11, and a slider 25 that is supported by this elastic member 23 and disposed on the flexible arm 13 and held in the exclusive-use housing 11.
When the male connector 3 is fitted into the female connector 5 in the connector 1 of such a configuration, first, the male connector 3 is inserted into the female connector 5. At that time, the slider 25 is pushed by the pressing portion 19 against a pushing force of the elastic member. Thus, the slider 25 is moved on the flexible arm 13 in a fitting direction.
Then, in the case that the male connector 3 and the female connector 5 are brought into a fitted state by inserting the male connector 5 into a completely inserted position in the female connector 5 in which an outer wall 2 of the female connector 5 is positioned under the exclusive-use housing 11, the engaging projection 17 provided on the bottom surface of the flexible arm 13 is engaged with the engaging portion 21 of the outer wall 27 of the female connector 5, so that the fitting between the male connector 3 and the female connector 5 is put into a temporarily held condition. At that time, the pushing state of the pressing portion 19 is canceled by the pressure release portion 15, so that the slider 25 is moved by the pushing force of the elastic member 23 to an initial position thereof. Further, the slider 25 is engaged with an upper-side part of the leading end portion of the flexible arm 13. This prevents accidental displacement of the flexible arm 13. Consequently, the fitting state, in which the male connector 3 and the female connector 5 are fitted to each other, is retained.
However, the slider 25 and the exclusive-use housing 11 for holding the slider 25 are disposed over the flexible arm 13 in the related connector 1. Thus, the dimension in the direction of width or height of the male connector is large. Consequently, the related connector has encountered the problem that the size of the entire connector is large.
Conversely, in the case that the slider 25 is placed under the flexible arm 13, the slider 25 cannot be engaged with the upper part of the leading end portion of the flexible arm 13 during the connector is in the state in which the male connector 3 and the female connector are temporarily fitted to each other. Thus, when the flexible arm 13, whose engaging projection 17 is engaged with the engaging portion 21, happens to undergo upward displacement, there is a fear that the fitting state, in which the male connector 3 and the female connector 5 are fitted to each other, cannot be reliably retained.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a connector enabled to reduce the size of the entirety thereof without increasing the dimensions in the directions of width and height thereof and to retain the fitting state of the male and female connectors.
To achieve the foregoing object, according to the invention, there is provided a connector (hereunder referred to as a first connector) that comprises a male connector, a female connector into which this male connector, an elastic latching member, which is provided on an outer periphery of one of the male and female connectors, for retaining a fitted-state of the male and female connectors, and a half-fitting prevention member for detaching, when the male connector and the female connector are half-fitted to each other, the connectors from each other to thereby notify a half-fitted state, in which the male and female connectors are half-fitted to each other, and prevent the half-fitted state from being retained. Thus, the half-fitting prevention member is placed at a height that is nearly equal to or less than a height of the elastic latching member above a surface of the outer periphery, which projects therefrom, without increasing the dimensions in the direction of width and height of one of the male and female connectors.
In the connector of such a configuration, in a state in which the male and female connectors are fitted to each other, the elastic latching portion retains the fitted state of the male and female connectors. At that time, in the case that the male and female connectors are in a half-fitted state in which the connectors are not completely fitted to each other, the half-fitting prevention member detaches the male connector from the female connector and notifies that the connectors are half-fitted to each other. This prevents the half-fitted state of the connectors from being retained.
Further, in this connector, the male and female connectors can retain a fitted state thereof. Thus, the half-fitting prevention member can be disposed at a height that is nearly equal to or less than a height of the elastic latching member placed above a surface of the outer periphery, which is projects therefrom, without increasing the dimensions in the directions of width and height of one of the male and female connectors.
An embodiment (hereunder referred to as a second connector) of the first connector of the invention comprises a fitting hood portion, which is provided at the other of the male and female connectors and put into a fitted state by having the one of the male and female connectors inserted, and a latching hood portion that is provided in this fitting hood portion and has the elastic latching portion caught in the fitted state, in which the male and female connectors are fitted to each other, and that accommodates the entire elastic latching portion, in addition to the constituent elements of the first connector.
In the second connector configured in this manner, the one of the male and female connectors is inserted into the fitting hood portion of the other of the connectors. In this condition, when the connector is brought into a fitted state by inserting the one of the male and female connectors to a regular insertion position in the other of the male and female connectors, the elastic latching portion is caught in the latching hood portion. Moreover, the latching hood portion accommodates the entire elastic latching portion to thereby prevent the elastic latching portion from being accidentally bent by an external force.
In an embodiment (hereunder referred to as a third connector) of the first or second connector of the invention, the half-fitting prevention member comprises an elastic member connected to the one of the male and female connectors, and a slider that is supported in such a manner as to be able to move in a fitting direction and that is pushed against a pushing force by the other of the male and female connectors when the male connector is fitted into the female connector.
In the third connector configured in this manner, when the male and female connectors are put into a fitted state, the slider is pushed against the pushing force of the elastic member by the other of the male and female connectors. Thus, when the connectors are in a half-fitted state, the slider pushes the other of the connectors and detaches from the male connector from the female connector by the pushing force of the elastic member to thereby notify the half-fitted state of the connectors.
In an embodiment (hereunder referred to as a fourth connector) of the third connector of the invention, the elastic latching portion comprises arm portions, each of which has an end part connected to an outer peripheral surface of one of the male and female connectors, and a bending portion for bending the arm portions between the one of the end parts and the other thereof to thereby have elasticity and for placing an other-end-side part of the arm portion along the outer peripheral surface, and latching projections each provided on an outer surface of the other-end-side part of the arm portion. The fourth connector further comprises a resilient member disposed along the outer peripheral surface of the one of the connectors, a slider provided in such a way as to be laid across the resilient member, and an operation portion, which is formed in the slider so that the resilient member is disposed between an inner surface thereof and the outer peripheral surface, to be operated when the fitted state of the male and female connectors is canceled. The operation is formed so that a height of an end surface of each of the latching projections above the outer peripheral portion is almost equal to a height of an end surface of the operation portion thereabove.
In the fourth connector configured in this manner, the latching projection of each of the arm portions in the fitted state of the male and female connectors is caught in the latching hood portion by the pushing force of the bending portion, so that the fitted state of the male and female connectors is retained. Thus, the resilient member is disposed along the outer peripheral surface, and the slider is provided in such away as to be laid across the resilient member without increasing the dimensions in the directions of width and height thereof and to retain the fitting state of the male and female connectors. Further, the operation portion is formed in the slider so that the resilient member is placed between the inner surface thereof and the outer peripheral surface of one of the male and female connectors. The operation portion and the latching projections are formed so that the height of an end surface of the operation portion is nearly equal to the height of an end surface of each of the latching projections.
An embodiment (hereunder referred to as a fifth connector) of the third or fourth connector of the invention has a retainment canceling portion for canceling the retainment of the fitted state, which is performed by the elastic latching portion, when the slider in the fitted state of the male and female connectors is moved against the pushing force of the resilient force.
In the fifth connector configured in this manner, the retainment canceling portion can cancel the retainment of the fitted state of the male and female connectors by moving the slider in the fitted state against the pushing force of the resilient member of the slider.
In an embodiment (hereunder referred to as a sixth connector) of the fifth connector of the invention, the retainment canceling portion comprises a retainment canceling projection provided on a side end surface of the elastic latching portion in such a way as to protrude therefrom, slider arms provided in the slider and disposed on a side of the elastic latching portion in the fitted state of the male and female connectors, and slider projections, each of which is provided on this slider arm in such a way as to protrude therefrom and which abuts against the elastic latching portion and bends the elastic latching portion when the slider is moved against the pushing force of the resilient member in the fitted state.
In the sixth connector configured in this way, the slider is moved against the pushing force of the resilient member in the fitted state of the male and female connectors. At that time, the slider arm moves together with the slider so that the slider projection abuts against the canceling projection. In such a state, the slider is moved still more thereby to bend the elastic latching portion and to cancel the retainment of the fitted state of the male and female connectors.
An embodiment (hereunder referred to as a seventh connector) of one of the third to sixth connectors has an engaging portion for engaging the latching hood portion with the slider in the fitted state of the male and female connectors.
In the seventh connector configured in this way, the latching hood portion and the slider can be engaged with each other by the engaging portion in the fitted state of the male and female connectors.